Carroll’s | my Steal Your Space book

Jam – 2013-12-30 – Carroll’s

30 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Deadstein Forums, Jams, Recording Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, StaggerLee, Wikler

“Freaking Since 1990” is what the sign a top the Terrapin’s cabin says and this jam, the night before New Years Eve 2014, was a jam to commemorate not only the new year but also the longevity of Deadstein itself. Still playing Deadstein into 2014 has a nice ring to it. Happy New Years and a freaky 2014 from Deadstein to all the freaks out there.

Deadstein is going strong after all these years and the 53rd jam of the year is a testament to it. This holiday season was a challenge to keep the freak parade going with everyone’s busy schedules, but some how we did it and didn’t miss a beat from a scheduling perspective. Not skipping a beat while playing is a whole other matter. Scott was our only missing person this week as he was busy filming one of the many shows he has been to over the season.

While Scott films, I continue to record the jam sessions with my Mackie MDR 24/96 multi-track hard disk recorder. While you think 53 jams is going strong, how about 20 multi-track recordings since August. That is quite a bit of high quality music to remember 2013 with.

Deadstein has long been a believer in archiving its music and the merriment that accompanies its weekly jams ever since day 1. Over the past week or so, the Deadstein.com jams database has been updated with reference to adding the remaining Deadstein blog posts since the first days of blogging beginning in July 1996. Some say Deadstein invented early blogging, but I think it is only Al Gore and Kevin who make that claim. Previously, the database had only gone back as far as 1998. With this update, I was also able to find and include classic Kevin setlist artwork from the second half of the 1996 time-frame. These setlists had previously only existing on paper and never included on the web at Deadstein.com. Look for some of this new-old-stock (N.O.S.) artwork to pop up randomly throughout your Deadstein.com travels. Finally, speaking of archives, I continue to trickle in and update some of the classic recordings from the earliest days of Deadstein as I find time to digitize and upload the original cassettes. This week I uploaded 11-5-90 jam from 162 Perry Street.

Getting back to the end of 2013, with New Years Eve falling on Tuesday night, a Monday night jam or Thursday night jam were the only hopeful nights to jam so we selected Monday without Scott. Lee filled in quite nicely by himself. We were already in this Monday jam mode from the previous week as we were impacted the same way by Christmas. It did kind of force us into one last jam of the year, number 53, which I like, but it also pushes of the first of 2014 up a little. We are going to have to keep our focus in 2014 to keep the jam frequency up at 2013 levels.

Getting into the jam seemed easy this evening as it seemed none of the world was working. I was working but was able to get in early and setup seemed quick and easy, not much moved from the previous week in Studio B. Getting out of the jam was not nearly as easy for me. It was a frigid night in the metropolitan area and I was psyched to be in my warming car after the at 12:20 heading to the Lincoln Tunnel down 11th Avenue, when – BOOM – I hit a giant pothole. That woke me up a bit. Just before I was to pull into the Lincoln Tunnel entrance I decided to pull over at the Javitz Center to just check on my tire. Sure enough, it was hissing louder than my 1990-cassettes . Changing this flat in 20-degree weather was a real awakening. After about 30 minutes of very difficult work in the cold I was off and running with my doughnut The ride home was exceptionally squirrelly but I made it home by 1:45 and was fortunate to get the tire(s) changed the next morning before the place closed at 1pm for New years and before the impending snow and cold weather pattern to follow. “When life looks like easy street there is danger at your door.” Let’s be careful out there in 2014 and remember it’s not 1990 anymore.

Speaking of 1990, like our first jam in 1990, we opened this one up with a Jack Straw and it felt pretty good and that feeling continued through the El Paso. The misplaced first set Scarlet had trouble garnering the respect it deserved and the Fire even less so as it took Kevin probably 1/2 the song to remember that Fire typically does follow a Scarlet. With this said, it had its movements, which it better have had some, because at 26 minutes, if it doesn’t have any moments, I mean, WTF? Minglewood Blues brought us back into form and Push Comes to Shove knocked us right out of it. The Cats, You Win Again into Music Never Stopped was the closer of the first set which ended up being pretty hefty. I think my resolution for 2014 should be to learn how to jam on Music Never Stopped correctly. I always feel so inept while jamming that song.

We took a very long break, I think we all felt a bit satiated with our accomplishments of the evening and 2013 and felt as if there was little else to prove. In many respects we are right and the second set seemed a bit difficult to muster up the required enthusiasm. The Estimated into Terrapin was well executed for the most part, but another mini-break after the Terrapin meant whatever was reaming for the year (Gomorrah, Evangeline and Midnight Moonlight) would be petifores at best, as all the beef for the year had been devoured long ago. Not to fret because the butcher has a load of fresh bloody meat to deliver for our consumption in 2014.

For 53 jams in 2013, Freak Out!

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/12-30-13

Jam – 2013-12-23 – Carroll’s

23 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, Wikler

As is always the case, getting people together during the holiday season is always a challenge. Deadstein still perseveres as our 52nd jam of the year is a testament to. This year is a little strange in that Chistmas and New Years Day both come on Wednesday. In essence, this makes the opportunity to jam to only be on Monday or Thursday. No matter what we do, we cannot seem to get Lee and Scott together but fortunately we have both of them and we haven’t missed a week. This week, Lee couldn’t make the jam but Scott was ready to go and away we went.

We were supposed to be playing as a quartet, as Rich was supposed to have a practice with his other band, but to our surprise, he showed up with Scott. A yoink and away we went. China Cat Rider was the opener for the night and a good one it was. It set us up for a large successful evening of music. This was one of our better China Cats. The first set seemed to flow from there. The only real hiccups were the Big River opening but it isn’t too bad. Otherwise the first set is beefy and solid. The Garcia Band segment of Van Morrison songs was really nice, including one of our better He Ain’t Give You None. The Let It Grow, as is its role, was a very hot exciting was to close the first set at 10pm.

The second set was characterized by two 3-song segments with our little Beatle thing to close. The Viola Lee is still a lost cause and the Stephen Eleven requires rehearsal before playing to give it the respect they deserve, but no one is perfect, so we play and do the best we can by the seat of our collective pants. With this said, there is more good than bad and it’s better to play and try than not to play at all. Fifty-two Deadstein jams in a year shows the Freaks are Out!

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/12-23-13

Jam – 2013-12-19 – Carroll’s

19 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Scott, StaggerLee, Wikler

This week in the holiday season, Rich was the odd man out as he couldn’t make the jam. For some reason the beginning of the night ended up having a Go To Heaven Feel to it. The Getaway was a traditional opener, but the Sailor Saint follow-up seemed early, but it paid dividends as it was good. We had the solid tempo and we executed it well.

We dipped into a little traditional first set material then did a bit of Dylan. Lee like the Blood on the Tracks feel to the middle of the night. For some reason we did a Deadstein first with the Meet Me in the Morning. Since we don’t have any idea about what to do with that song and we just winged it, the song ended up being a lot of fun. Not a lot of beef and not a lot of quantity but it was some fun stuff and the capabilities of the multi-track recording always enable the music to shine the best that it can. Freak Out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/12-19-13

Jam – 2013-12-12 – Carroll’s

12 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, StaggerLee, Wikler

This week in Deadstein found us playing as a rare quartet with us missing Alan and Scott. It was a tough night to get going and nothing seemed to flow too well. It all started with terrible traffic for me getting into the city. This meant I wasn’t in the studio until almost 8pm. With my close to an hour setup time to do my multi-track recording, it meant that it was going to be an abbreviated night. In some respects, the night was figuratively unlimited as none of us were scheduled to work in the morning. That must have been a Deadstein first. On the other hand, the unlimited was literally not and we had to start all over for the first time since developing the theory.

For as much trouble as it felt to play the music at times, the recordings sound pretty good until we get to the end of the night and begin to play outside of our true element. As much as we wanted to play unlimited, the reality of reality shined its ugly countenance upon us and we cried uncle after only playing a mop-top past a baker’s dozen.

Since we weren’t recording a second drummer or a second guitar, I used the extra microphones on Lee’s kit and Rich’s piano. I really like what it did to the piano having an SM57 underneath the piano mixed in with the PZM. The piano on the week’s tape sounds as realistic and “rich” as ever, pardon the pun, but it really was. Freak Out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/12-12-13

Jam – 2013-12-04 – Carroll’s

04 Dec 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Rich, Scott, StaggerLee, Wikler

Enjoying the 7th night of Hanukkah, Deadstein had a pretty good night of music, for the typical first half of the evening. The recordings have a very weird texture to them as I added live Grateful Dead audience to the background of the music and adjusted the audience’s exuberance as would be expected if it was the Grateful Dead playing as opposed to Deadstein. In any case, it is an exciting sound for all of us to dream about.

By the end of the night, to keep thing interesting Kevin and I decided to switch instruments and we headed into a long Dark Star / Other One type of jam. I was a real challenge to me, but it presented new opportunities for the both of us at a time of the night where we needed them. To close, our rendition of Cry Baby Cry was pretty whirly. Freak Out.

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/12-04-13

Jam – 2013-11-25 – Carroll’s

25 Nov 2013 Leave a comment

by deadstein in Jams Tags: Carroll's, Jam, Kevin, Larry, Scott, StaggerLee, Wikler

Deadstein jamming on the Monday night during the week of Thanksgiving, as well as the beginning of Hanukkah, meant it would be difficult to get a whole band in, yet alone even a jam. Fortunately for us, we were able to select Monday as the night for the jam. This meant no Rich and no Donna, but somehow the 5 of us made the best of the opportunity. I think the first set had real power and strength for the 8 songs that it was.

The first set started off as a tribute to some of the songs of the 10-17-83 Lake Placid show with the Sugaree, Rooster opener. The rest of the first set flowed with some beefy elements and ended with a T-Bone Let- It Grow.

For the second set we let up on the protein just a bit as we started with a few small plates to begin. We got back into the entrees with the Playing, Black Peter Watchtower combo, but we ended the night with some small tokens of appreciation with the Box of Rain and Bright Side of the Road. This week featured the multi-track recording of the night’s music like most of the recent jams. With out Rich’s acoustically amplified piano in the mix, there was a lot more open space to either use or be exposed in, depending upon your perspective. A lot of exposure and no where to hide, so it’s time to Freak Out!

The audio files are provided in the following folder:
http://deadstein.com/audio/11-25-13